Liz is a Principal Research Analyst with global responsibility for key HR research projects including Cloud-Based HR Transformation, Cloud-Based Benefits Services, and The Future of HR, as part of NelsonHall's wider HR Technology & Services practice.

Pete is a Principal Analyst at NelsonHall, with shared responsibility for HR Services research globally with Nikki Edwards, and Gary Bragar. Pete covers HR Services research in the areas of payroll services, cloud-based HR services, HCM technology, and RPA and AI in HR outsourcing.

Nikki is a Principal Research Analyst at NelsonHall, where she has shared global responsibility for HR Services programs with Gary Bragar and Pete Tiliakos. Nikki covers HR Services research in the areas of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Programs (MSP), Total Talent, and Learning.

Key Findings & Highlights:

In 2018, the global payroll services market was estimated at ~$19.9bn, (with partial services accounting for >3/4 of the market) and predicted to grow at 4.4% CAAGR and will reach ~$24.6bn by 2023.

Middle market buyers remain largest adopters of managed payroll services (~48%), with demand increasing in both the small and large market segments driven by the demand for modern cloud platforms and globally consolidated solutions.

Payroll services adoption is steady across all major sectors and is expected to continue as HR and payroll transformation has become a key priority in line with broader digital transformation efforts.

With many organizations commonly expanding operations to new international locations, pared with a lack of skilled payroll expertise in the workforce, and an underestimation for the skills and effort required in maintaining modern cloud platforms, has led many to seek 3rd party solutions and expertise for ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant payroll execution.

Global payroll transformation has become a critical priority as many buyers have moved to (or selected) a cloud HCM solution, and now are seeking to futureproof payroll operations by consolidating payroll to a single global platform and vendor governance model. As a result, companies are commonly prioritizing payroll transformation as a key element and enabler to broader HR transformation.

Thus, multi-country payroll services are rapidly increasing in demand and continue to grow at more than 2x the overall market, representing >18% of the total standalone payroll services market. Multi-country payroll demand is being driven by the need to: improve payroll consistency, consolidate vendors and solutions globally, improve compliance, and access to globally consolidated analytic reporting

The global payroll services vendor league table is currently led by ADP with ~30% market share. Other vendors in the top ten based on revenues include Paychex, BDO, SD Worx, Ceridian, NGA HR, Ascender, Safeguard Global, Alight Solutions, and OneSource Virtual.